Just spoken to Marrakech - he has 'un grand amelioration' - ie he's much better - even sucking milk all on his own now (that's a terrific step forward).



Though apparently, with all this energy, he's making a real nuisance of himself, bouncing around and getting into mischief all over the place - knocking over the vet's trays while they're trying to work on other animals. But of course everyone has fallen for him - especially the two girl volunteers. But with ears like that, who… Continue

Firstly, thanks for all your messages of support for the team in Marrakech who are helping Tommy pull through.



Tommy is making huge progress, as you can see from the photos - he's still not sucking, hence the bandage round his nose holding the nasal-gastric tube in place - saves having to do the risky process of inserting/removing the tube every two hours. Alex (the girl in the photos) is a veterinary graduate from Cambridge - she's one of the volunteers getting very little sleep… Continue

Hurrah, hurrah, he's doing well. The temperature/pneumonia worry is always there, but touch wood, he's fine at the moment. Still being fed by nasal-gastric tube, every two hours, day and night, but he's getting stronger every day.



They hope that soon he will develop a proper sucking reflex, but of course nobody knows just how premature he might be. Sucking is much better for the digestion than a stomach tube - all the wee scrap's 'systems' will work better.



But he is… Continue

Well, the good news is he's still going, the bad news - it's a bit of struggle.



No surprises there I suppose - the poor wee scrap's got a lot of challenges to face.



Main problem, he's probably quite premature - though hard to be accurate as to just how much. But it translates into he's got no sucking reflex. So, to feed him we've had to do it by naso-gastric tube, every two hours. Now, you can imagine, feeding the tube across his trachea as often as that, it would be very,… Continue

You always know when something awful is happening in our animal hospital in Marrakech.

There is a sudden kerfuffle, perhaps with a certain amount of yelling – then some histrionics – usually involving grown men and women weeping copiously.



So it was last night just as darkness began to descend. Oh, but I forgot to say, at the same time as the histrionics our team goes into overdrive, while at the same time depicting a stony-faced… Continue

Now don't get me wrong - I just love Chinese food. Normally that is. But in North West China it's a bit different from the stuff we get here at home - which people tell me is generally southern or Cantonese cooking.



Apart from aquariums all round the restaurants' walls containing the main course (but still alive!) the food is hugely spicy. So, I suppose if Mexican cooking is your thing, it's the very place for your next vacation, but for me, I find eating a breakfast which leaves… Continue